When comparing Axiom Verge vs Dark Souls III, the Slant community recommends Dark Souls III for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?”Dark Souls III is ranked 41st while Axiom Verge is ranked 45th. The most important reason people chose Dark Souls III is:

The combat in Dark Souls 3 asks you to understand how each enemy moves, what are the weak spots in those movements and exploit them. To exploit enemy moves, you'll have to know how your equipped weapon behaves as they have wildly different behaviors and timings. There are different kinds of melee and ranged weapons as well as spells. You'll have to choose the right tool for the job. Additionally, positioning in a fight is important as attacking from behind will be more effective than attacking from the front.
All elements combined, DS3 offers a deep combat system that's satisfying to master.

Pros

Pro

Tons of power ups to collect

In addition to having lots of things to find, the power ups give you diverse abilities that allow you to interact with the world in new unique ways.

Pro

Great soundtrack

Pro

Great combat system

The combat in Dark Souls 3 asks you to understand how each enemy moves, what are the weak spots in those movements and exploit them. To exploit enemy moves, you'll have to know how your equipped weapon behaves as they have wildly different behaviors and timings. There are different kinds of melee and ranged weapons as well as spells. You'll have to choose the right tool for the job. Additionally, positioning in a fight is important as attacking from behind will be more effective than attacking from the front.

All elements combined, DS3 offers a deep combat system that's satisfying to master.

Pro

Can give a great feeling of accomplishment

The Dark Souls series is known for how difficult it is and Dark Souls 3 is no slouch in this area. The game is difficult and the player will die a lot. This of course can give a feeling of aggravation, but once a difficult boss is finally defeated, there is a sense of achievement that is not often found in other games. Conquering this game is a feat, one that many will relish.

Pro

Fast and precise gameplay

Dark Souls 3 adds a bit of speed over its previous releases. This makes for an exciting new experience for players of the franchise as well as an overall exciting experience for new players, as it requires impeccable timing of how one can react to counter, dodge or hit an enemy.

Pro

Fixed issues found in previous titles

The first game in the series had some issues with roll direction, the second had issues with a boring layout and forgettable bosses. This being the third game in the series takes the best out of the previous two and combines them into a cohesive experience. Everything is polished to improve the game. Bigger and better bosses, skillful level design, omni-directional rolling and all weapons have a special ability.

Pro

Vast variety of equipment and spells

The equipment found in this game is quite numerous. There are many different swords, bows, spells as well as a huge selection of different armors. Weapons such as swords can each have unique abilities such as different strikes. So while one sword may have a long reaching sideways swipe, another may have a deep penetrating forward strike. These weapons can also be changed in their special abilities as the player can infuse certain crystals, to then give the weapon a magic bonus such as flame damage or frost damage.

For those that prefer magical abilities there will be many NPCs to be found that can teach different spells such as pyromancer spells, miracle spells or sorcery spells. Each can be used depending on what equipment the player uses, such as staffs or talismans or chimes.

Armor is also something that comes in a variety of flavors, though it cannot really be adjusted with abilities, though it can be mixed and matched in order to match with the users playstyle or look they are going for. Some armor is quite heavy and will require certain characteristics to be upgraded in order to be used.

Overall, the choices the game gives the player when it comes to equipment is quite vast and can allow for really deep strategy, planning out what equipment will work for any particular situation.

Pro

Solid controls

No matter if using a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad (or Steam controller), the controls work well and can be customized easily in the settings. This makes the controls versatile as they can be customized to fit any type of player and their preferred control scheme.

Pro

Appealing graphics that illustrate a dark and interesting world

The design of said graphics makes for a world so in depth it is quite a site to behold. Everything in the game feels and looks like it belongs and only serves to further flesh out this dark mystery of a world. The game definitely takes advantage of better hardware over the previous titles and it shows, the game looks really good.

Pro

Unique experiences through exploration

The game focuses less on linearity which means that the player can go their own direction in large environments, in order to explore what appeals as the best path to them. It sees the player constantly winding around different paths that interconnect, all while holding secret passages and hidden items. There is much to discover in the game, which gives a great sense of wonder as to what will be found next. With so much to see and do in the game, depending on how one plays and where they go, their experience can be quite unique when compared to someone else's experience, who may have took a different path and found different items. Overall this makes for a game that feels personal to the player, as no two gameplay experiences are alike.

Pro

Save points in the game are easy to find

There are a lot of bonfires (where the player can save) scattered around the game. This makes it easy to save before death, which is a big help for many, due to how difficult the game can be.

Pro

Good selection of classes

There are 10 total classes the player can choose from during character creation. This makes for a quite a few options for the player to pick from, giving them a sense of originality as well as a character that can fit just about anyone's playstyle.

Pro

Fast load times

The load times in the game can vary, depending on if the user has an HDD or an SSD, but even when using an HHD the games load times are under 10 seconds, with the majority taking under 6.

Pro

Customizable HUD

The heads up display in the game can be turned on or off as well as set to a new third setting where the HUD adjusts itself automatically to only show what is important at the particular time of play.

Pro

Worthwhile equipment combinability

Any and all equipment in the game can be useful at some point of gameplay. The players is not penalized for wanting to use particular equipment for looks over usefulness, as all equipment is useful in some way. This greatly opens up how one can combine the equipment they find as the player is not held back by equipment not being as useful as the rest.

Pro

Unpredictable boss fights

The boss battles will see the boss shift their strategies and attacks often, making for a battle that will react to how the player is fighting as well as constantly change in order to keep the player on their toes, which makes for challenging battles.

Cons

Con

Great but repetitive soundtrack

This sounds like an odd con but while the soundtrack is some great electronic music, it becomes pretty repetitive when you find yourself wandering around looking for items or the next destination.

Con

Poor support for mouse+keyboard control

The default DS3 key/button bindings actually prevent full use of certain weapons by requiring the shift key to be pressed and not-pressed simultaneously. Rebinding is possible, but limited by issues like the left mouse button overriding all others and certain bindings not actually working in game (e.g. Shift+MiddleClick).

Con

Designed to work better with Intel CPU

The game can only take advantage of up to 4 cores of a CPU, meaning those using AMD CPUs (which tend to have 8 cores) will only be able to use half of their cores for the game. This will make for a poorer experience if using an AMD CPU.

Con

Some graphical pop in

No matter ones graphical settings or rig being used, the game does suffer from some pop-in when turning fast. This can be distracting when noticed, which detracts from the feeling of polish and immersion in the game.

Con

Open atmosphere makes for confusing paths

With the game having more of an open world feel it can be difficult to know what direction to go in. While much can be explored, there is a certain feeling of being lost that can make for a frustrating experience.

Con

May be too depressing and dark for some

This game can feel like a weight on ones shoulders. Everything about it is dark, gloomy and depressing. Some people may not enjoy this atmosphere at all.

Con

Some areas have slowdown

No matter the equipment being used, there are portions of the game (even when using the best equipment) that will see a dropped framerate.